Julián Is a Mermaid

Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this beautiful picture book about a boy who goes swimming with his grandma and on the way home sees people dressed as mermaids on the train, then creates his own mermaid costume while his grandma is in the shower. He isn't sure how he is going to respond when she sees the mess he's made, but she doesn't get mad, she helps him accessorize and takes him to see a show with other mermaids.

I love how this book celebrates imagination and depicts the loving, supportive relationship between a boy and his grandmother. I love the inter-generational and diverse characters and body types depicted in the lovely illustrations. My son also loves to dress up in costumes and play pretend, and though I'm pretty sure I would not react well if he took down our curtains to make a costume, I try very hard to create an environment where he has no worries about being accepted for expressing himself. I love that this book features a scene where such support is not only possible but just the way things are. Our world would be an infinitely better place if that were true everywhere.

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Bringing Back the Wolves: How a Predator Restored an Ecosystem

Bringing Back the Wolves: How a Predator Restored an Ecosystem by Jude Isabella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lovely picture book for older kids (or adults) about the effects of reintroducing wolves into Yellowstone National Park, an ecosystem devastated by the systematic killing of apex predators in the late 1800s. There were a few spots where I felt like a little additional content would have been helpful, or at least don’t leave me hanging and searching for where the story thread picks back up. But overall an excellent book for anyone who wants to know more about the critical and sometimes surprising effects keystone species like wolves have on their environments.

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Bruce's Big Storm

Bruce's Big Storm by Ryan T. Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like all the other Bruce books, this one is absolutely delightful--funny for kids and for their grown-ups. This time around, Bruce is the reluctant host of all the neighborhood animals during a big storm. When a tree crashes through the roof and slices the house in two, the neighbors rally to fix up the house even better than before--adding a "rumpus room" (It's for rumpusing!) where everyone can hang out and play cards. My kids ask for this as a bedtime story over and over and can now recite pretty much the entire book. Or at least sections of it before dissolving in giggles. We love Bruce books so much!

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I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track

I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track by Joshua Prince
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book to my daughter's kindergarten class in honor of the Transportation unit they were working on. The kids were really into it--caught up in the suspense of whether the ant was going to be smashed by the train. However, even these 5 & 6-year-olds were savvy enough to point out that an ant would most assuredly feel the vibrations of an enormous train barreling ever closer and would have gotten off the rail WAY before the train posed any kind of mortal danger. In fact, they blurted this fact out right in the middle of the story, which gave me an opportunity to respond with, "True, but you can pretend anything you want in fiction!" and then quickly move on before anyone thought about all the ways that *isn't* quite true or realized the switchman should have just picked up the ant instead of trying to redirect a TRAIN from its appointed route.

The illustrations in the book are beautiful--sort of a soft-focus photo-realism...aside from the ant who walks on two legs and carries a stick with a bag of belongings hanging from it. That part's pure "photo-fantasy," you might say.

There are some great vocabulary words in the text, and loads of rhyming words, which the kids were having fun listening for. The rhythm of the text flows along well in all but a few spots, so practicing out loud in advance is a must. The stutter-spots can be overcome if you learn which syllables to emphasize, but that's nigh impossible in the moment.

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Glasswings: A Butterfly's Story

Glasswings: A Butterfly's Story by Elisa Kleven
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book to my daughter's preschool class when they were learning about butterflies and insects, and the kids really enjoyed it, although they were very concerned when Claire, the glasswing butterfly, got separated from her family. It's a nice story that highlights how butterflies and other insects & birds benefit gardens: pollinating the flowers, eating insect pests, and spreading seeds. The part of the story where Claire's extended family finds her in the city was rather improbable, but it did reassure and calm the worried children.

When reading to an individual child and not a group, I'd suggest taking a lot more time to look at the beautiful illustrations and talk about what is going on in the background, such as the community members working on the garden.

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Nilo and the Tortoise

Nilo and the Tortoise by Ted Lewin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story is pretty simple: Nilo is a young boy who gets left behind on a small island in the Galapagos Islands when he is playing ashore while his father's boat gets repaired. While Nilo's away from the beach, the rope tied to the anchor breaks, sweeping the boat out to sea. Nilo is remarkably calm about this and explores the island until his father can return to him the following day. In the meantime, he sees an angry bull sea lion, many different birds, the volcano's caldera, and a large tortoise, who lets Nilo sleep next to him.

In all honesty, the watercolor illustrations are so detailed and beautiful, I hardly noticed the words on the page. I was in such awe of the artwork!! I'm so glad we own a copy of this book, so I can sit and stare at the paintings as long as I want (or really, as long as my children will let me).

5+ stars for the artwork. 3.5 for the story (which is sweet but not "amazing"). The average is therefore 4.25...although I am tempted to round up to 5 anyway purely due to how much I love the watercolors.

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